Chapter Twenty-Two: The Path Not Taken
[Things are pretty shit but Kengo is keeping the peace as best he can. Wish I’d gone back to Yamaku with you though. Love you.] I frown at the text that woke me up. I wish I was there, at least then I’d feel useful. And I’d be with Ritsu… I lay back on my bed and thumb a text back.
[Offer still stands, I’ll be down there in a flash if you need me. Love you too.]
I sigh and close my phone and my eyes. What do I do today? Do I go see Molly? Yesterday was pretty fun. Why haven’t I hung out with her more during my time here? That’s true for a bunch of people really…
Knock-Knock
I open my eyes and look at the door, as if it would tell me who is behind it, before I speak up.
“Yeah?”
“Taro?” I can’t quite make out who it is…
“Door’s open!” I call and the door slides open, revealing my dining partner from yesterday. I ease myself up and sit against the wall so I can face my guest.
“Morning, Molly.” I smile. “Are you a vampire or something, you
can come in!”
“Don’t be mean, Taro! Your lot are big on their manners so I’m used to doing that.” She frowns at me before stepping into the room and looking around, taking particular interest in my collectibles.
“Wow, these are cool! Kamen Riders, right?” She asks, kneeling down with a soft clink of her prosthetics. “I’ve only ever seen that American adaptation, the same guys adapted Super Sentai into Power Rangers.”
“Yup, along with a bunch of other tokusatsu shows, with varying degrees of success. I’ve seen a little of each but I think they lack the nuance of the originals.”
“We don’t have any long running superhero shows like you guys do. We have Doctor Who though but apart from that…” She ponders, racking her brain for other examples.
“Doctor Who’s pretty cool from what little I’ve seen. Can’t deny it’s legacy.” I smile, genuinely amused to be having a full-on nerd conversation with a foreign student. A sudden spark of inspiration.
“Molly? Do you have any Doctor Who DVDs or anything?” I scoot to the edge of my bed with excitement. She thinks for a second before smiling.
“I have the 2005 reboot… It’s about twelve episodes long.”
“What do you say to a little
cultural exchange? Kamen Rider and Doctor Who marathon?”
She thinks it over for a while before nodding excitedly. “Deal!”
“{Excellent}! Go grab what you need and I’ll set us up in the common room.” I bounce off my bed and help Molly to her feet.
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“So they’re wish-granting demons?” Molly calls back to me as I make fresh drinks for the both of us.
“Essentially, yeah.” I answer, making Molly’s tea in the way she showed me yesterday.
“And the good guys travel through time on a train to stop the evil demons from wreaking havoc in the timestream.” Molly continues to sum up as the sixth episode of
Kamen Rider Den-O begins to play on the large TV. It’s new this year but thematically similar to Doctor Who so I figured it would be a good choice.
“Is it any weirder than an immortal man travelling through time in a phone booth?” I jokingly rebuke.
“Kinda, yeah!” That gets a laugh out of me. “But I
love the music. It’s so upbeat and poppy. I like how they have a bunch of variations on the same song too.”
“And more just get added as more good guy demons are introduced and used as new forms for Den-O. Not to mention the secondary Rider’s theme.” They’re only vague spoilers but it gives her an indication of the variety of music in the show. I hand her a mug of tea and sit down with my mug of coffee.
“Well, it’s certainly
reeled me in.” She smirks and pushes up her red-framed glasses, mimicking the
Urataros-possessed Ryotaro onscreen. Never really noticed how she needed glasses to read before but regardless, it’s a cute display.
“You could totally rock a blue streak in your hair too!” I laugh and she giggles.
“Switching to Doctor Who after this? Finish up the last six episodes?” She asks, looking back at the screen.
“Sounds {
fantastic} to me.” I give a sly smile as I use the Ninth Doctor’s catchphrase.
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At some point during the two-part finale of Doctor Who, Molly slumped to her side and started napping. I pulled the blanket slung across the back of the sofa onto her and finished the episode. I retrieve our mugs and discarded snack packets and take them to the kitchen. I place the mugs on the sideboard near the kettle and put the packets in the trash. I lean my back against the counter as the kettle boils again and rub my eyes. I hear the main entrance to the dorms open and two familiar figures appear in the hall.
“What up, big man!” Miki calls, dragging Suzu behind her. I raise a finger to my lips then gesture to the sofa, Miki skipping over to peer at the sleeping Molly.
“I didn’t expect to see you guys back so soon. How was your trip?” I ask quietly as Miki walks over to give me a fist bump.
“Pretty good, I think. Hung out with my Dad and explored the old haunts. How about you?” She leans against the counter much like me.
“Much the same. Actually made up with my Father.” I smile.
“Really? Damn, that’s awesome!” Miki exclaims before quickly turning her voice down. “Happy for you, man.” She pats me on the shoulder. We look to Suzu who had gone to peek at the sleeping Molly and then turned to us.
“I can’t believe you’re
still building a harem…” She shakes her head.
“I’m not building a fucking harem, Suzu!” I scold in a hushed tone, gaining a laugh from both girls. “You couldn’t have
lost her out in the boonies?” I ask Miki, who stifles a laugh as Suzu punches my arm.
“I’ve been living without phone signal and creature comforts for a week. By all means, Taro, push me.” Suzu glares up at me. I think she’s actually pissed.
“It wasn’t that bad.” Miki pouts and crosses her arms indignantly.
“Well I’m sorry that I can’t appreciate the
rustic charm of your home town.” Suzu smirks wryly.
“There must have been something you enjoyed.” I say, turning and preparing a couple of fresh mugs.
“I guess the lake was fun.” Suzu offers. Miki laughs a little and ruffles her friend’s hair.
“Toldja!” Miki beams.
Preparing drinks for these two is old hat by now and I’m more than happy to welcome them home with a warm drink. We follow the sounds of shuffling as a dishevelled and drowsy Molly peeks over the back of the sofa with crooked glasses.
“Tea, Molly?”
“Mmmm,
please…” She sighs, folding her arms over the back of the sofa and resting her chin. “Welcome back, guys! Have fun?”
“We did, thanks Molls.” Miki shoots a look to Suzu before she has a chance to speak up. “How about you?”
“I just dossed about, really.” She admits with a yawn. “Taro coming back was the highlight of my week, to be fair.”
Oh, Molly… You’re going to regret saying that.
“So how are you adjusting to your new place in Taro’s ever-growing harem?” Suzu chimes in.
“I swear to god, Suzu, I will swap out your Provigil for
laxatives.” I threaten as I prepare our drinks, Miki cackling at the idea. “Ignore her, Molly, she’s just a massive pervert. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she wanted in on this
non-existent harem.”
“O-oh… Okay…” Molly removes her glasses and replaces the blanket. “Did you finish the last episode, Taro?”
“I did, that Bad Wolf stuff blew my mind!” I chuckle. “And the regeneration scene was a real tear-jerker.”
“You should see the new guy in action, he’s
pretty…” She smiles, collecting the DVD from the player.
“Pretty what?”
“Just pretty!” She laughs.
“Fucking NERRRRRRRDS!” Miki exclaims.
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“So Ritsu’s got family troubles, eh? Really surprised you didn’t force the issue and stay.” Miki snorts in amusement as I sit next to her on the common room sofa, holding her mug out as I do.
“I tried but it was made pretty clear that I’d only exacerbate the situation, whatever it is…” I sigh and put my feet up on the edge of the table.
“
Weird.” She raises an eyebrow then takes a look at the snoozing Suzu in a nearby armchair. Molly had hung around for a while before taking her leave. It was nice to hang out with her again.
“What’s got you smiling?” Miki leans in, narrowing her eyes.
“Hanging out with Molly was pretty fun. I’m surprised we haven’t hung out more considering our similar interests.” I admit.
“So Suzu was right!” Miki laughs.
“She’s never right, about anything.” I shake my head with a smile. “It’s just… Being left on my own made me realise that I have a really close knit circle of friends. I love each and every one of you guys, don’t misunderstand. It was just weird to be alone and suddenly find someone so similar to me that I hadn’t really considered before. I guess…” I pause, trying to think of the words.
“Thinking about the path not taken?” Miki offers. Huh. She can be surprisingly insightful when she wants to be.
“Yeah, that’s it... So many of my choices in my first two years lead me here and I guess having the alone time to think about my last year here and then spending time with Molly has brought up some questions.” I explain as Miki listens intently, Suzu still seemingly asleep.
“What if I’d never been assigned the seat next to Ritsu? What if I never found Akio on Yamaku hill? What if I never joined the Art Club?
What if…”
“We’d gotten together?” Miki chimes in and my heart stops. My eyes dart to Suzu and Miki shakes her head.
“She knows. Not going to keep secrets from my best friend. Not that you
could from that narco’ bloodhound.”
“Brutally honest to a fault, eh?” I manage a nervous chuckle.
“You know I am.” She smiles a little, looking at her mug of hot chocolate.
“Hm.” I snort with amusement. “I guess if we
did get together in those early days, ours lives might be much different now… Can’t say how though.”
“It’s hard to imagine it, right?” Miki laughs. “Yeah, we helped each other adjust to Yamaku and… well, you know…”
I think back to a couple of… intimate encounters Miki and I had in our first year. Helping each other relieve stress or vent or just because it was fun. It didn’t last long but I think that, as well as our long nights of shared emotional support, went a long way to forging the friendship we share today. It’s probably not the best way to start a friendship but we’ve made it work.
“But I don’t think I’d trade any of our time together for something else.” Miki continues, her eyes full of warmth.
“You’d have gotten soooo sick of my nerd shit…” I laugh and Miki jumps to adjust her sitting position.
“Are you kidding? You’d have thrown in the towel first! Do you remember how bruised you could get?” She has a massive smile on her face as she recalls our past adventures.
“Oh please, I could take whatever you dished out and
then some!” I retort with a derisive look. “I seem to recall you having trouble with me… Once you taught me some tricks that is.” We glare at each other for a few seconds before erupting in laughter.
For the first time in a very long time, I see Miki blush. She never blushes, not in a straight-up embarrassed way.
“Heh. Ancient history now, I suppose.” She looks up, a similar wistful expression as the night she told me not to break any hearts. She cares about me, that much is obvious. How deep that runs could be debated but that’s a hypothetical.
A path not taken. The path that I
am on?
“True, but not a history I regret nor would I change for anything, {good buddy}.” I give the biggest, sincerest smile I have and offer up my mug to hers in toast.
“To history and to friends.”
“Amen to that, big guy.”
Clink
“And to
harems.” A drowsy Suzu adds, shattering the moment.
